Indian tycoon Ratan Tata has died at the age of 86

Indian tycoon Ratan Tata has died at the age of 86, the Tata Group says, after more than two decades at the helm.

Tata was one of India's internationally recognized business leaders.

The Tata Group is one of India's largest companies, with annual revenues of more than $100bn (£76.5bn).

In a statement announcing Tata's death, the current chairman of Tata Sons described him as a “truly extraordinary leader”.

Natarajan Chandrasekaran added: “On behalf of the entire Tata family, I offer my deepest condolences to his loved ones.

“His legacy will continue to inspire us as we strive to uphold the principles he so passionately championed.”

During his tenure as chairman of the Tata Group, the company made several high-profile acquisitions, including Anglo-Dutch steelmaker Corus, UK-based car brands Jaguar and Land Rover, and the world's second-largest tea company Tetley.

UK Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds paid tribute, saying Tata was a “titan of the business world” who “played a huge role in shaping British industry”.

A 2011 profile in the Economist magazine called Tata a “titan”, crediting him with transforming the family into “a global powerhouse”.

“He owns less than 1% of the conglomerate that bears his family name. But he's still a titan: India's most powerful businessman and one of the world's most influential,” the magazine said.

In 2012, he retired as Group Chairman and was appointed Chairman Emeritus of Tata Sons, the Group's holding company.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed Tata as a “visionary business leader, a compassionate soul and an extraordinary human being”.

Paying tribute on X, formerly known as Twitter, Modi described “numerous interactions” with Tata and said he was “extremely pained” by her death.

Tata was born in 1937 in a traditional Parsi family. He studied architecture and structural engineering at Cornell University, USA.

In 1962, he joined Tata Industries – the promoter of the group – as an assistant and spent six months training at a company plant in Jamshedpur.

From here he went on to work at Tata Iron and Steel Company (now Tata Steel), Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and National Radio and Electronics (NELCO).

In 1991, JRD Tata, who had led the group for over half a century, appointed Ratan Tata as his successor. “He is [JRD Tata] My greatest mentor was… He was like a father and a brother to me – and that's not said enough,” Tata later told an interviewer.

In 2008, the Government of India awarded him the Padma Vibhushan, the country's second highest civilian honour.

Peter Casey, author of The Story of Tata, described Tata as a “humble, reserved and even shy man” who had a “political calm” and “fierce discipline” about him.

He was embroiled in a rare uncomfortable controversy in 2016, when his successor as Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry was ousted, sparking a bitter management dispute. Mistry died in a car accident in 2022.

The business tycoon also had a lighter side to him. His love of fast cars and planes was well known – the Tata Group website describes them as some of his “enduring passions”.

Tata was also a scuba diving enthusiast, a hobby that “couldn't take the strain anymore” with age.

He was also a dog lover and cherished the many pets that had accompanied him over the decades.

“My love for dogs as pets has always been strong and will continue as long as I live,” the industrialist said in a 2021 interview.

“Every time one of my pets dies there's an indescribable sadness and I decide I can't go through another breakup of that nature. And yet, two or three years down the road, my house is too empty and too much for me to live in. Calm down. Without them, there's another dog that gets my affection and attention, just like the last one,” she said.

He is often praised for his simplicity. In 2022, a video of him traveling in a Nano car – one of the cheapest cars in the world, now mostly remembered as one of Tata's failed dreams – went viral on social media.